Leading up to his debut album, LA-based songwriter and producer Tony DV has garnered plenty of comparisons to aughts-era indie figures and the ’90s bands that preceded them—just listen to the bittersweet, symphonic sounds of early single “Charcoal Juice.” Yet the true source of inspiration behind I know trash people who keep the oceans clean is the LA River, a body of water that the artist points out isn’t man-made but rather man-fortified. “Its current concrete form is the result of humans trying to improve it,” he shared in a press release addressing the record’s 10 songs and their exploration of the space between human instinct and moral clarity. “Like a bee building a hive, it’s our nature to fortify, eternalize.”
With the LA River serving as “somewhat of an icon” for the album, as he puts it, the “Neighborhoods” set he filmed for us naturally takes place along the famous body of water. The two-song set sees DV on acoustic guitar and backed by cellist Frederik Daelemans, with the aforementioned “Charcoal Juice” being preceded by the unreleased album opener “Still Blue.” “‘Charcoal Juice’ was inspired by a friend of mine who used to drink charcoal water mixed with cayenne pepper to trick her brain into thinking her stomach was full,” he explains of the former track. “It’s a song that explores emptiness from multiple angles.” As for “Still Blue,” he notes that it’s “a song about power and casual brutality. The minute I wrote it, I knew it was track one.”
Check out the video below—directed by Coco Leroux with sound engineering by Becket Edwards—and pre-order I know trash people who keep the oceans clean ahead of its January 28 release here.
